


Ragged Hearts

by connorssock



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Cat Gavin, Homelessness, M/M, Shifter Android Nines, Shifter Gavin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-05
Updated: 2020-01-05
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:41:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22131217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/connorssock/pseuds/connorssock
Summary: Shifters were required to register by law. So there was a bit of an irony to an unregistered shifter being a detective. Even better, he found a seemingly homeless shifter android living behind his block of flats, absolutely terrified of seemingly everything. Did Gavin follow the law and report it? Hell no. He adopted it.
Relationships: Upgraded Connor | RK900/Gavin Reed
Comments: 15
Kudos: 216
Collections: Reed900WinterGiftExchange19





	Ragged Hearts

**Author's Note:**

> Written for gavinisqueertbh on Tumblr as part of the Reed900 Celebration event.

The revolution was a fucking mess. Gavin sighed when it all finally settled. At long last society could get back to its usual snivelling snootiness without threats of violence. Sure, androids had gained equal rights but now they had the fun of social hierarchy to contend with. Much like humans put value in arbitrary measures, so did androids. There was no logic why certain shifters held a higher status than others amongst humans but that line of thinking also ate away at androids. Purists wanted only human androids to be given opportunities. The same as some shifters were pushed far down the totem pole. It was one of the reasons Gavin never registered as a shifter, fashions and trends made feline shifters either hot commodity or untouchable garbage. Without a piece of paper and a note on his record, Gavin could freely do as he wished. Even if it wasn’t quite legal. Still, he justified it by telling himself that a cat shifter couldn’t cause problems like a bear or even a wolf shifter. The worst he could do was knock a glass of water off a counter.

His form afforded him a lot of luxuries. It had become part of Gavin’s evening habit to take a stroll through his area, make sure everything was acceptably in place. As a human it was a bit strange to loop through the neighbourhood and peer into houses, nose around the rubbish bins and the like. As a cat though, nobody batted an eyelid. He was on one of his regular routes through a back alley when he heard the noise. Someone or something was rifling through the bins. Curious but wary, Gavin stalked closer and hissed when an android straightened up from where it had been rummaging through the trash. Its LED was stuck on red and Gavin hissed as husky-like blue eyes stared at him. Turning, Gavin bolted, not wanting the find himself victim of the prey-drive of a canine shifter android.

While humans could fully shift into their alternate form, androids weren’t so lucky. They could take on traits, some more successfully than others. It looked like that particular android had pretty good shifting abilities though. Yet the more Gavin thought about it, from the comfort of his own sofa, the more he couldn’t get the android out of his mind. There was no lurch, no hunting instinct activated at the sight of a cat. If anything, the android had looked frightened. Putting it out of his mind was hard work but Gavin burrowed into his blankets on the bed that night and resolutely didn’t think of why an android of such high calibre might be rummaging through back alley bins.

The next night Gavin took his half full bag of rubbish out to the bins, half hoping to catch sight of the android. However, other than a few scraps of cloth in a pile that could have been made by any creature, human, or android, there was no sign of even a hint of life. With nothing to see there, Gavin returned to his flat and tried to forget the strange android shifter. He didn’t even like androids anyway.

On his next patrol as a cat, Gavin saw the android again. It was half shifted, seemingly stuck between human form and dog form. Dog or wolf, actually, Gavin wasn’t certain. Not that it mattered. He peered down from top of the bin he was balancing on at the pitiful form. And almost fell into said bin when the android turned its head and stared up at him with a soft whine and eyes wide with worry.

Ears flattened back, Gavin hunkered down, ready to bolt. However, there was no need for that as the androids sat up and cowered away from him. It was reaching into its stash and pulled out a mostly eaten chicken bone and pushed it into the gap between them. Thinking it was a ploy to lure him in, Gavin backed away with a growl which turned into a hiss when the android moved again. Immediately it was dropping the arm it had raised towards Gavin and let out a soft, scared little whimper. There was no chance such a reaction was built in as a lure to hurt Gavin. Still ignoring the offending chicken bone, he hopped off the bin and cautiously approached the android. Who backed even further away until its back hit the wall.

So the fear was genuine, Gavin mused. Walking up to the android, he bumped his head against the android’s hand, demanding to be petted. It seemed to do the trick, hesitantly and far too lightly, the android pulled two fingers over the dome of his head. That certainly wasn’t enough and Gavin wasn’t the kind to take only what he is given. To encourage the android, he began to purr. It made the android jump back and Gavin stared. It also gave him a good opportunity to seize it up. Still in CyberLife garb, tatty and dirty but the RK900 identifying code easily visible. It wasn’t a model Gavin was familiar with. He’d seen Connor the RK800 and his almost puppy like shifting but this android was something more. It should have been dangerous, a programmed killing machine judging by his looks but it was anything but. Gavin knew he was in trouble when the android attempted to smile at him.

Whenever Gavin approached the alley in human form, Nines was nowhere to be seen. But if three minutes later he returned as a cat, the android was settled on what had become his little nest. As the days wore on, Nines looked less and less wary of Gavin in his cat form. One night, he even pulled what looked like a ruined ball of yarn from his nest and proudly presented it to Gavin. He looked so heartbroken when Gavin seemed intent on ignoring it that, in the end, Gavin gave it a few obligatory swipes just to get the android less sad.

It wasn’t every day that Gavin visited. And the more he watched Nines, the more he began to question just what had happened to make Nines the way he was. Half shifted, non-verbal but clearly with good intent when it came to small fuzzy things. He always seemed too careful when petting Gavin, like he would break any moment at one wrong touch.

One night, when Gavin was working late and he knew he wouldn’t have time to sit with Nines for an evening, he rummaged through his wardrobe. Finding clothes that might fit Nines was difficult but in the end, he found an ex’s old turtleneck, a hoodie and some jeans. Bundling them up in a rubbish bag and throwing a few envelopes and clean wrappers in for show, he trotted down the seemingly empty alley and left the bundled up bag next to the bins.

He only returned three nights later as a cat and tried not to preen when he spotted Nines in his old hoodie. It looked good on him. Oddly, Nines also seemed relieved to see Gavin. Briefly, his LED flickered yellow before returning to the usual solid red. That night, Gavin stayed with Nines, settled down on his nest and he was surprised when Nines shifted into his canine form, curling up protectively around Gavin.

By the morning, Nines was back to his human form. There were still a few traits such as sharper teeth and eerily blue eyes that he couldn’t seem to get rid of but at first glance he could almost pass as human. Which gave Gavin an idea. He hopped up onto the edge of the bin and swiped at the LED. Nines’ initial reaction was to pull away from the deemed attack with a growl but Gavin ignored the threat, confident that Nines wouldn’t actually hurt him. When Nines came into range again, he pawed at the LED once more.

It took a little while for Nines to cotton on, but once he did, he dutifully pried the LED off his temple. In a way, Gavin felt like he was losing a key tell-tale part of Nines, worried that he’d no longer be able to read him. Then again, the LED was almost permanently stuck on red. All the information Gavin gleaned about Nines was done much the same way as for a human, expressions, body language and the general vibes he got. And reading people was part and parcel of his job so he was doing just fine. Without the LED, Nines would be able to go out onto the streets more. Maybe try and find a shelter that would take him in or get some kind of support.

While Gavin spent time with Nines in the evenings, he also tried to do a subtle bit of digging. He’d never heard of the RK900 series before and it seemed nobody else had either. There were no records of their existence, nothing public anyway. Even quietly expanding his search was fruitless, there was nothing anywhere about RK900, not until he went straight to source at CyberLife. It was hidden away in one of the obscure production records, likely never accessed by anyone. A passing mention of the RK800 upgrade, this time designed for military grade conflict; which meant that Nines was most definitely dangerous, and should probably be handed over to the public health register. How Nines got out was beyond him but it didn’t matter. As far as Gavin was concerned, Nines wasn’t dangerous, wasn’t a threat that needed to be registered, have a curfew imposed or even be given restricted access to public areas. No android that seemed so scared to pet a cat for fear of hurting it could be dangerous.

Slowly, Gavin began to urge Nines to wander out of his protective little alley. At first, Nines would follow Gavin to the mouth of the road and stop there, hiding just out of sight in the shadows, obviously terrified of people. However, Gavin wasn’t going to accept that as good enough. He chirruped and meowed at Nines until he was joined on the street. From there, Gavin hopped up onto Nines’ shoulder and purred each time Nines ventured out further into the world.

They probably looked like an interesting pair. Nines passed human enough to look like one of the many homeless who crowded the streets while Gavin’s presence gave him an aura of being an organic man. At one point, Nines sat down next to an abandoned building, just to watch people pass and Gavin settled contently in his lap. The coin that almost smacked into Gavin had him yowling indignantly. However, the person who threw it didn’t even bother glancing back, their moral good deed of the day filled by having given a seemingly homeless guy and his cat some pocket change.

However, Nines seemed to have a different approach to it. He held the coin in his palm in wonder and slipped it into the pocket of his hoodie. There was something almost gleeful about him even if his expression never really changed from intimidatingly serious. From then on, if Gavin’s shifts fell to the evening, he would spend the day with Nines, out on the streets. A few people tried to engage with Nines, asking about his cat but Nines never spoke, shied away from most people and wouldn’t even look at them beyond brief flickering glances. What he never let anyone do though was touch Gavin. The first time someone had reached out to pet him, Gavin had been about to get indignant and considered swiping with his claws but before he could act, Nines had bodily lifted him away and settled Gavin on his shoulder with a glare. The woman who had reached for Gavin backed off with a bit of a huff but still threw a bit of change Nines’ way.

Sometimes, Gavin wondered what Nines was using his money for. An android didn’t need to eat, had no use of trinkets, hell, it didn’t even need to pay for internet access. At the rate people gave Nines small amounts of change, it would take years, if not decades, to amass enough for a place to stay. The question was answered about a week later when Gavin sauntered down after work one evening. Nines was in his usual place, nestled on a blanket Gavin ‘threw away’ a few weeks back in his human form. As soon as Nines spotted Gavin approaching, he visibly got excited. When Gavin was close enough, Nines pulled something from under the blanket. A cat bowl and a higher end cat food tin appeared.

It was just as well Gavin couldn’t tear up in his cat form. All the money Nines had collected had been carefully saved up so he could get a bowl and some decent food for Gavin. And Nines looked so proud of it too. That made something in Gavin’s chest squeeze and he was at war internally as to whether he actually ate the offered cat food or not. Because he couldn’t bear the idea of disappointing Nines. Not after the android had saved up, obviously mustered up the courage to go to a shop by himself and bought the bowl and the food. Gingerly, Gavin leaned in to sniff the food.

“Well, well, well, what have we here?” A voice sneered from behind him and Gavin turned to look, back arched and hair standing on end. Words like that never boded well, especially not when they were chuckled so menacingly.

A group of three men were approaching, their smiles held nothing but malice. Their eyes were fixed on Nines though they had clocked Gavin too. Slowly, Nines backed away from them, eyes wide.

“Don’t be shy. We just want a bit of fun.” One of the men tried to scruff Gavin and got a vicious scratch for his efforts. He cursed and aimed a kick at him before stomping on the food filled bowl, cracking the plastic in half.

“You owe us now, hand over all your money and we won’t leave you dead.”

Gavin twisted out of the way of another attempt to grab him and hissed. This was rapidly getting out of hand and Nines wasn’t defending himself. It occurred to Gavin then that maybe Nines couldn’t actually speak. If he was a military android, then speaking wasn’t necessary. All communication could be done internally, through reports and files. Why Nines hadn’t shifted yet was beyond him though, he definitely had the means to defend himself.

One of the men pulled a knife and Gavin knew he had to act. Without thought, he shifted, standing between their would-be attackers and Nines.

“This is an active police operation!” he barked as the men stared at him in stunned silence. “I would suggest you leave immediately and no further action will be taken against you.”

The men looked alarmed and they turned to flee. Turning, Gavin expected to see Nines. Instead, he was met with the glare of a wolf, maw dripping with saliva, teeth exposed on a snarl.

“There you are,” Gavin murmured. At least he knew that Nines could shift fully. Before his eyes, Nines shifted back to his more human form and glanced around, eyes wide with panic. Finally, Gavin knew where Nines hid whenever he had been down there as a human before. In a few easy moves, Nines had scuttled up the side of the building, out of sight behind an air-conditioning unit.

“Nines?” he called softly. “You can come down. I promise I won’t hurt you.”

To prove his point, Gavin shifted back into his cat form and sat next to the ruined bowl. Gradually, Nines returned to ground level and approached. He looked heartbroken as he picked up the broken part of the bowl and Gavin wondered whether the RK900 series were made with the ability to cry. Probably not.

Butting against Nines’ hand, Gavin turned, tail in the air and tried to lead Nines. He had no idea what he was doing, other than Gavin knew that it was the right thing to do. After the third time he turned back to butt against Nines, the android got with the program and followed Gavin. They walked into the building behind which Nines had taken up residence. Up on the fourth floor, Gavin looked at Nines in front of a door, hoping it was enough of a warning before shifting to human again so he could unlock the door and let them into his flat.

It took a few encouraging words before Nines stepped in, looking scared and wondrous at the same time. Perhaps it was the first time he had ever stepped into a home. Somehow, Gavin didn’t want to think about that. The softness of the sofa was obviously something that captivated Nines, he pressed a hand against it and watched the cushion depress under the weight before pulling his hand away.

“You can sit on it,” Gavin suggested and watched as Nines looked between him and the sofa a couple of times before gingerly sitting on the very edge of it. Only then did it occur to Gavin that Nines might worry about being dirty or doing something wrong. Leaving him on the sofa for a minute, Gavin went to his cupboard to pull out a different set of clothes he had bought and had been intending to leave for Nines later on. They were clean, freshly washed to hide the fact they were brand new.

Returning to the room, Gavin couldn’t help but smile as he found Nines curled up on the sofa, eyes shut and seemingly asleep. Now that he thought about it, Gavin couldn’t remember if he had ever seen Nines in stasis. Being one of the newest models, he probably didn’t need it as often or at great length but Gavin doubted he would have been able to get much if he didn’t feel safe on the streets.

What Gavin was going to do with Nines now was a whole different matter. An unregistered shifter with a military grade shifter android. They certainly made quite a pair. Setting the clothes to the side and offers of a shower to be made later, Gavin shifted into his cat form and hopped up onto the sofa, curling up on Nines. It would be a familiar comfort to find Gavin in his cat form on him in an unfamiliar environment. For now, all Gavin worried about was the immediate issues. Everything else could be a problem for tomorrow.

**Author's Note:**

> I make a mess of things on a semi regular basis over on tumblr as @connorssock


End file.
